Zhumaying Town is an ancient town with a long history, here is not far from the first pass in the world - Shanhaiguan, as early as the Qing Dynasty is the prosperous place where businessmen gather, the big set and the temple fair here are particularly famous, every time to the big set is a sea of people, known as the reputation of "the first set in the Guannai", until now, it is still the main trading place of the masses in the vicinity of dozens of miles. It was not until the end of the twentieth century, when the material life was extremely rich, the small shops and supermarkets in various places were greatly popularized, and the logistics were greatly convenient, that the Zhumaying Daji gradually diluted its function, but there were still quite a few ordinary people who still followed the tradition of rushing to the market.

The set of the garrison camp is every "two, five, eight", it is calculated according to the old calendar, today is the twenty-eighth day of the lunar month, every "eight", and it is also the last big set of the year ago, in 1994, when the material life is not rich, this big set is quite important for the common people.

After sitting in a donkey cart for more than an hour, Liu Yufan finally stepped on the streets of Zhumaying Ancient Town again. In his childhood memories, the impression of this place is very vivid. The prosperity and liveliness of Daji is like a huge magnet, which once attracted him deeply. Now, seeing this familiar scene again, Liu Yufan is more emotional and nostalgic.

However, Liu Yufan is a little sleepy now, maybe he slept too late last night, played with Wang Xiaoyong and a few of them until more than nine o'clock, and climbed on the kang to sort out more than an hour of music theory knowledge when he arrived at home.

There is no way, compared to many reborn people who are coaxed by cows, Liu Yufan's basic conditions are really miserable. Due to his poor family background and closed environment, he couldn't even find a book of music theory or piano scores, and even if he could find it, he couldn't afford it. Not to mention the piano, Liu Yufan vaguely remembers that there seems to be an old-fashioned pedal organ for more than 20 years in the elementary school, as for the piano? I'm afraid that it would be good to have one or two planes in the river and sea more than 300 miles away from here. In this era, except for a very small number of wealthy people, most people probably don't know what a piano is.

To stick to his music dream, Xiaofan still needs to put in a lot of effort.

"That's a lot of people." Liu Jian said excitedly. As far as the eye can see, the streets five or six meters wide are crowded with people, and it is difficult to even take a step forward, and those who ride bicycles and push small carts can only be passively embraced by the crowd.

After a difficult "journey", the mule cart finally arrived outside the bazaar. The Great Collection of Zhumaying is a large open field, built on the south side of Zhumaying Town. The market is first crossed by a street in the center of the town, which is lined with shops on both sides, and of course, the goods inside are better than those in the market. Every big market is also the peak of store business.

Liu Yufan's family got off the bus at the big department store in the center of the street, which was a stop for them every time they rushed to the market, Liu Yufan's aunt and aunt-in-law were both working as salespeople here, and they had to go in first to say hello and put some inconvenient things here for them to take care of on their behalf.

Zhumaying Department Store.

A few large red characters are painted on the white and gray wall, which looks particularly eye-catching.

This is the largest department store in Zhumaying Town, with a width of more than ten rooms, and the south-facing houses have bright windows and door frames painted with green paint. There are also a few toy tricycles ridden by children in the window, which are the "treasures" that children dream of in this era, but unfortunately few can afford to buy them at a price of dozens of yuan.

There were also a lot of people in the department store, and Liu Yufan's family of four walked towards the east entrance, stepped on the exquisite brushed stone steps, and lifted the cotton curtain made of green coarse cloth.

The department store was spacious, with large ceiling fans with green blades on the already peeling ceiling, but it was winter, and they were all quietly there. As far as the eye can see, a large side of the north side is a half-height counter, which is divided into different types of goods, and there are also counters on the east and west sides, as soon as customers come in, it is like being surrounded by these three counters, but it is very wide and long, and there is no such oppressive feeling.

In the mid-nineties, in the countryside, such a place, in the eyes of both children and adults, could be called "luxurious". Liu Yufan quietly watched everything here, and his thoughts were surging. Those fragments buried in the depths of memory are alive again.

"Xiaofan, hurry up, your eldest brother-in-law is over there." Chu Qing was stunned when he saw his son alone over there, patted him and shouted.

"Oh, I see." Liu Yufan retracted his thoughts and followed them.

"Yo, here we go." Liu Yufan's aunt-in-law was standing behind the counter and greeting two customers who were buying fountain pens, when he saw a few people coming, he said hello and was busy.

"You only have this kind of pen here, and there are several of them in the stalls outside." The person who bought the pen looked like a mother and daughter, and the daughter looked like she was fifteen or sixteen years old, and she was picking up a pen and looking at it.

"We have this kind here, this is a hero brand, the best fountain pen, what are the things sold on those stalls outside, they are all fake, the quality is not compared with this one, we are a regular department store here, the quality of the things sold is absolutely reliable, you look at this tip, absolutely good!" Liu Yufan's eldest aunt is called Xue Tiezhu, as his name suggests, he is five big and three thick, with a garlic head and a nose, and he speaks loudly, standing there has a kind of majesty, and the words he says seem to be particularly convincing. The words just now obviously moved the mother and daughter.

"Let's get cheaper." Said the mother carrying the basket.

"It's not cheap, I'll tell you, you spend money to buy a good thing, go back and make sure you don't use it, or you add another five cents, I'll give you a bottle of ink, we are all authentic ostrich ink here, all buy seven cents."

A mother and daughter were finally moved by Xue Tiezhu's words, and paid for a fountain pen, Xue Tiezhu skillfully took out a piece of cardboard with a pen full of strokes, opened a bottle of ink, dipped the tip of the fountain pen in some ink and handed it to the little girl.

"Let's try it, will you be able to summon it?" Xue Tiezhu said.

The little girl wrote the words "Zhumaying Middle School" on it, although it was not pretty, but it was quite neat, and it seemed to be a middle school student there.

"It's so beautiful to write, just look at this kid learning." Xue Tiezhu praised on the side in a timely manner, and the woman who bought the pen took over with some pride: "Isn't this the second place in the school in the final exam, his father said to buy a pen and reward it." ”

"I said, this kid is really promising, and he will definitely be able to get into a good school in the future. What's the matter, is the pen good? Xue Tiezhu asked with a smile.

"It's good." The girl smiled, obviously Liu Yufan's aunt had praised her on the phone just now.

The mother and daughter finished buying the pen and left satisfied, and Liu Yufan's aunt turned around to greet the family, and the aunt Chu Rong, who was not far away at the clothing counter, also came over.

"Just arrived?" Chu Rong greeted Liu Yufan's family warmly.

"Well, you're very busy here." Liu Yufan's father said with a smile.

"Isn't it? I haven't been idle for the past two days, and it's almost the New Year. Xue Tiezhu said with a smile.

"yes, I can't walk the road." Chu Qing nodded and said, then looked around and asked, "What about Xiao Zhe?" ”

"Oh, it's a mess on this big set, I let him stay at home, and his father is watching." Chu Rong said.

Xiao Zhe's big name is Xue Dongzhe, the same age as Liu Yufan, but he is a few months older than him, and he has a lot of fun with Liu Yufan, and he belongs to the category of sworn friends. At that time, as long as there was winter and summer vacations, Xue Dongzhe always went to play with Liu Yufan.

This guy should be a little fat man. Liu Yufan was a little funny in his heart, thinking about Xue Dongzhe's appearance.

"Oh, then we won't stay, we have to hurry to the market to buy something, and we have to go back in time." Liu Yufan's mother said.

"What's the hurry, stay for a while and then leave, there are a lot of people outside." Liu Tiezhu said with a smile.

"No, no, you guys are busy, we'll come back after buying things in a while." Chu Qing said and said to Liu Yufan and Liu Xiaoran: "You two come with me and buy clothes for you first." ”

"Oh." Liu Yufan answered and followed behind his mother. This is the "routine" of his family over the years, his father Liu Jianjun goes grocery shopping, and Chu Qing is responsible for buying New Year's clothes for the two children. A few kinds of meat and vegetables, a new set of clothes for one person, a little firecrackers and a new calendar, this is all the "New Year's goods" of Liu Yufan's family.

There are so many people on the street that it's hard to take a step. Chu Qing kept calling the two children to follow, holding the hands of the two children and not daring to let go for a moment, there are so many people, if the children are lost, there is nowhere to find them! You know, there are no mobile phones these days.

The smell of the smell from the stalls selling thirteen incense, the smell of sulfur from the occasional trial of a few kicks from the firecrackers, the salty smell from the stalls where they buy braised shrimp and fermented bean curd, the pungent smell of dry smoke from the old smoking guns, and the mouth-watering smell of the flatbread and meat wrapped in Zhumaying's specialty, the air is filled with all kinds of smells.

"Maybe this is the flavor of the New Year." Liu Yufan smelled the smell in the air and thought to himself.

"The bitter sand, the feeling of blowing the sore face, is as unforgettable as the father's scolding and mother's crying......" On the roadside open-air video booth, the old single-card tape recorder plays Zheng Zhihua's "Sailor", and now, it is the time when this song is popular all over the streets. Of course, for the big places, this song is "outdated". In remote rural areas, it seems that it is always out of step with the trend.

Listening to this song, Liu Yufan couldn't help humming, but a series of content flashed in his mind subconsciously: Well, the electronic flavor of the accompaniment is too strong, and the step-by-step bass in this place is used well, alas, it would be better if the interlude was a little distorted in the guitar timbre...... As an amateur music lover with a good foundation, Liu Yufan also has a certain knowledge of arrangement and orchestration, and his reaction to hearing a song is naturally different from that of ordinary people.

A little reluctant to leave the video booth, Liu Yufan had the urge to buy a tape recorder. Although in later generations, such as mp4s, iPods, and mobile phones, the cassette recorder has long been submerged in the long river of history, but now, the cassette recorder is the only way for Liu Yufan to enjoy music. It's a pity that even such an antique-level tape recorder is not something that Liu Yufan can have at the moment, more than 100 yuan. He dared to say that his mother Chu Qing would definitely kick his ass.

Rows of colorful clothes attracted Chu Qing's footsteps like magnets. Women have never been immune to clothes. However, Chu Qing looked at it for a while, and did not buy it, but came to the children's clothing area with a familiar car, and began to pick up clothes for the two children. Liu Yufan saw it in his eyes, and felt uncomfortable for a while. When I was young, I didn't realize what my mother bought them clothes, but now that I think about it, my mother is also a woman, who doesn't want to dress up beautifully after the New Year, but Chu Qing, who has worked hard all year long, is reluctant to buy even a new pair of socks for herself. A parent's love for their children is never on the lips, but it is the deepest.

My mother first bought a dress for my sister Xiaoran, a purple flannel blouse with a pattern and dark green pants. Looking at the combination of colors, Liu Yufan was really speechless, but the little girl liked it. It's no wonder that Liu Yufan's vision is more than ten years behind them.

Next is Liu Yufan's clothes, although Chu Qing still wants to buy him another set of "military uniforms", after all, in the boys' clothes stall, this is the most. But under Liu Yufan's insistence of "preferring to die rather than yielding", he finally changed to a black cloth jacket and pants.

On the way back, my mother was still complaining: "Your child is getting bigger and tougher, what kind of torn clothes are that, how can it be better than that military uniform?" Wearing black for the New Year, what is it like! ”

Liu Yufan followed behind his mother and said nothing, anyway, his goal was achieved, and if his mother likes to say it, let her say it, anyway, she won't wear that ridiculous "military uniform" anymore.

The lady walked around the market for a while, and bought some greens and fruits, although they were fruits, that is, apples, pears and hawthorns, and those bananas and oranges in the south were not to be seen at all at this time. It's not a valuable thing, but it's a bag full of them.

"There's nothing to buy, let's wait for your dad at your second aunt's." Chu Qing said to Liu Yufan and Lu Xiaomei.

"Mom, I want to visit the bookstore." Liu Yufan pointed to a small bookstore called "Sanwei Bookstore" opposite.

"Look, there are so many people! Check it out when you have time! Chu Qing was in a hurry to go back, but he didn't want to delay his efforts.

"Just one look, one look!" Liu Yufan was on it again.

"This kid, the older he gets, the more difficult it is to manage, just for a while." Anyway, his son likes to read, and there is nothing wrong with it, although Chu Qing is a rural woman, she is still unambiguous in the education of her children.

"Hey, got it." Liu Yufan said and went into the bookstore a few times.

Compared to the bustle outside, the bookstore is deserted. It's no wonder that books are not a necessary New Year's goods, in addition to students, I am afraid that the people who read books this year are teachers and people who go to work.

The bookstore is very small, more than ten square meters, and there are bookshelves welded with angle iron on three walls, most of which are martial arts, romance novels and student guidance books.

The boss, a thin man in his forties, was reading a novel while warming himself around the stove in the middle, glanced at Liu Yufan, ignored him, lowered his head and continued to read.

Liu Yufan didn't come to borrow a novel to read, his eyes swept around, and finally found two rows of reference books.

"Practical skills for raising chickens, ten endgames of chess, Bruce Lee's desperate three-legged ......" Liu Yufan quickly glanced twice, but did not find anything with the word "music". Although it was expected, it was still a little disappointed. Zhumaying is the most "prosperous" place in the nearby Shili Eight Villages, but for Liu Yufan, this is a cultural desert, and as for the music he loves, it is as far away as paradise here.

Seeing Liu Yufan turn around and want to go out, the bookstore owner said vaguely, "What book are you looking for?" Didn't find it? ”

"Yes, no." Liu Yufan said, his voice could not hide the look of disappointment.

"What's your name, if you really want it, I'll ask you next time I enter the book." The bookstore owner is accustomed to asking with his last name.

"Okay, then I'll write down the title of the book for you, you can help me ask if there is one, if there is, I will definitely want it." Liu Yufan said, took the ballpoint pen placed on the table next to him, and wrote the words ""Fundamentals of Music Theory", Li Chongguang" in neat block letters. Then he put down his pen and turned and walked out of the bookstore.

"Foundations of Music Theory?" The bookstore owner glanced at the title of the book, looked at the child who had already walked out of the store with some surprise, shook his head and threw the notebook aside.

followed her mother Chu Qing back to the department store, and her aunt Chu Rong greeted her.

"Bought it all? Look at this big bag. Seeing this girl, Chu Rong said with a smile.

"Oh, there are too many people, and the army hasn't come back yet?" Chu Qing put a basket of things on the ground, moved his arm a few times and asked.

"No, let's come in and wait a while." Chu Rong said and pulled a chair from behind her.

"No need, I'll just stand outside for a while, hey, Xiao Ran, don't touch it, it's broken!" Chu Qing saw that her daughter was looking at the toys in the counter through the glass, and said quickly.

"Don't be afraid, let her see it." Chu Rong said, took out two steaming flatbreads from the counter, and said to Liu Yufan and Liu Xiaoran: "Come, one for each of you!" ”

"Oh, what are you buying this for your child, it's expensive!" Mom complained for a while.

"Eat, the child is hungry!" Chu Rong said as she handed over the flatbread wrapped in meat.

"Thank you, Auntie!" Liu Yufan took it and gave it to his sister, and he tore open the oil paper outside, and a pungent fragrance suddenly came out. The smoked pork head meat, the secret sausage poured by home, and the thin flatbread that has just come out of the pot are wrapped in a mouthful, and the aroma alone makes people's mouths water. Liu Yufan was indeed hungry after walking for a long time, so he opened his mouth and took a bite, and his mouth was immediately full of fragrance.

"Delicious!" Liu Yufan said vaguely while chewing.

"Hehe, this kid!" Chu Rong looked at Liu Yufan's eating appearance and was happy.

After a while, Liu Jianjun came back with two large woven cages, and when he came in, he said loudly: "But I'm back, there are so many people that I can't walk!" ”

"What did you buy?" Chu Qing rummaged through the things her husband had bought, complaining from time to time.

"Buy mushrooms again, this thing is quite expensive!"

"Two pieces of meat are fragrant when you stew meat!"

"What is this similar to tree bark?"

"Oops, that's tangerine peel, stewed meat, don't turn it over!"

"Blind buying!"

……

Watching his parents teasing his mouth, Liu Yufan suddenly had a very warm feeling.

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